MUST-READS

• Why are So Many Iranians Seemingly Indifferent to the War in Gaza?

  Forty-five years after the revolution that saw the Shah dethroned, there has been a significant shift in Iranian public opinion. While the Islamic Republic is considered the primary state enemy of Israel, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict does not appear to be a priority for the Iranian public, including various opposition groups, students, and intellectuals. This is reflected in the slogan “No to Lebanon, no to Palestine, my life only for Iran,” which appeared in 2009 during the Green Movement that followed fraud-tainted Iranian elections.

• Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom caught in Iran-Israel shadow war
  Jordan has foiled a suspected Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the U.S.-allied kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage, according to two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the matter.
  The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan that has links to the military wing of Palestinian group Hamas, the people told Reuters. The cache was seized when members of the cell, Jordanians of Palestinian descent, were arrested in late March, they said.

• The nuclear fatwa that wasn’t—how Iran sold the world a false narrative

  In a 2012 interview with local magazine Mehrnameh, Rouhani recounted the 2004 talks with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, and claimed that he told them that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “has issued a fatwa and declared it forbidden to acquire a bomb. This fatwa is more important for us than the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] and the additional protocol. It is more important to us than any law.”

• China’s former ambassador to Iran takes on same role in Saudi Arabia

  China’s former ambassador to Iran, Chang Hua, has been transferred to Saudi Arabia as part of a regular diplomatic reshuffle.

  The move follows last year’s Chinese-brokered deal between the states to restore diplomatic relations.

  The embassy in Riyadh announced the appointment and Chang’s arrival on Friday. In his inaugural address he said the embassy is “committed to promoting exchanges and cooperation between [China and Saudi Arabia] actively practising ‘diplomacy for the people’, and providing dedicated services to Chinese citizens” in Saudi Arabia.

• Iran to change nuclear doctrine if existence threatened, adviser to supreme leader says

  Iran will change its nuclear doctrine if Israel threatens its existence, an adviser to Iran's supreme leader said, the latest comment by an Iranian official that raises questions about what Tehran says is its peaceful nuclear program. Tehran has always said it had no plans to obtain nuclear weapons. Western governments suspect that it wants nuclear technology to build a bomb; its nuclear program has been at the centre of a long-running dispute that has led to sanctions.

• Will Iran’s supreme leader revise his ‘nuclear fatwa’?

  Following Iran's Apr. 14 military action against Israel in response to the Apr. 1 bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) explicitly suggested the possibility of a revision to Tehran’s objection to atomic weapons. The suggestion may only be a part of the war of words between Iran and Israel. However, the fact that such discourse is rapidly becoming mainstream in Iran raises questions of what may lie ahead—including whether a shift may take place under Khamenei, who has long opposed atomic weapons on a religious basis.

• Iran’s Lessons Learned From Direct Confrontation With Israel

  Receiving Iran’s top military commanders April 21, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: “How many missiles were launched and whether they reached their targets or not … is a secondary issue. The main issue is the manifestation of the resolve of the Iranian nation and that of the armed forces in the international arena.” Disregarding the bluster, Khamenei’s statements were seemingly an admission of the inefficacy of Iran’s missiles against the formidable Israeli and allied air defense systems.

• Perspective: U.S. Fixation on Nuclear Deal Let Iran Loose on the Middle East

  Early in the process, there was a clear imbalance between Washington’s perception and Tehran’s. Washington thought that engaging Iran on the nuclear file would curb the latter’s destabilizing potential in the region, and this assumption motivated the signing of an initial nuclear agreement with Iran in 2013. But Iran celebrated the agreement as a political victory and otherwise carried on. Despite this, the Obama administration pressed on in pursuit of a wider nuclear deal, and in 2015 managed to secure the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

• In Iran, talk of capacity to build nukes sparks bipartisan backlash

  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused the US of attempting a Libya-style shutdown of Iran’s nuclear facilities. This comes as some Iranian officials have indicated that the Islamic Republic may turn to nuclear weapons if pushed into a corner. But rather than being welcomed amid tension with Israel, such remarks have sparked a cross-partisan backlash—with both media and pundits portraying such discourse as a pretext for the west to further sanction Iran.

• Israel’s Next Front? Iran, Hezbollah, and the Coming War in Lebanon

  Over the past six months, tensions along Israel’s border with Lebanon have escalated dramatically. Israel has now deployed 100,000 troops to its north to confront the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, and the fighting there has steadily intensified. Nearly 400 Lebanese—including around 70 civilians and three journalists—have been killed, 90,000 Lebanese civilians have been displaced from around 100 towns and villages along the Israeli-Lebanese border, and Lebanese villages and olive groves have incurred widespread damage from phosphorus bombs.

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